The Secret of Failure
(No. 2454)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 1, 1896.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
FEBRUARY 25, 1886.
"Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, Why could we not
cast it out? So Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief: for
verily I say unto you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
you shall say unto this mountain, Move from here to there and it shall
move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does
not go out except by prayer and fasting." Matthew 17:19-21.
"And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him
privately, Why could we not cast it out? So He said to them, This kind
can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."
Mark9:28,29.
I put these two texts together for this reason. Those of you who are
acquainted with the Revised Version know that the 21st verse in the
17th chapter of Matthew is left out. There seems to be little doubt
that it was inserted in certain copies by persons who thought that it
ought to be there because it was in Mark's narrative. It is put in the
margin of the Revised Version, but it is left out of the text. It is,
therefore, very satisfactory to find that the omission from Matthew's
account makes no real difference because we have the words in the 29th
verse of the 9th of Mark, "This kind can come forth by nothing but by
prayer and fasting." Only there is this fact to be noticed–in the
Revised Version this verse runs, according to Mark, "This kind can come
out by nothing, save by prayer." Whether the fasting was originally
there, or not, I cannot tell, but putting together the two accounts in
Matthew and Mark, we believe we have a full and true report of what the
Master did actually say on this occasion.
I. Observe then, dear Friends, at the outset, without any further
preface, that WE MAY BE THE SERVANTS OF GOD AND YET WE MAY OCCASIONALLY
BE DEFEATED. Those nine disciples who remained at the foot of the
mountain when the Savior took the other three to behold His
Transfiguration, had, each of them, a true commission from the Lord
Jesus Christ. They were nine of His chosen Apostles. He had elected
them in His own good pleasure and there was no doubt about their being
really called to the Apostleship. They were not only elected, but they
were also qualified, for on former occasions they had healed the sick,
they had cast out devils and they had preached the Word of Christ with
great power. Upon them rested miraculous influences and they were able
to do great wonders in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ–they were not
only qualified to do this, but they had actually performed many marvels
of healing.
When they went forth, girded with Divine power, they healed the sick
and cast out devils everywhere, yet, on this occasion you perceive that
they were completely baffled and beaten! A poor father had brought to
them his epileptic son who was also possessed with an evil spirit–and
they could neither cast out the evil spirit nor heal the epileptic boy.
They came, as it were, to a great difficulty which quite nonplussed
them. And the scoffing scribes were there, ready enough to take
advantage of them and to say in scorn and contempt, "You cannot cure
this child, for the power you have received from your Master is
limited! He can do some strange things, but even He cannot do all
things. Perhaps He has lost His former power and now, at last, a kind
of devil has appeared that He cannot master. You see, you are mistaken
in following Him–your faith has been fixed upon an impostor and you
had better give it up."
Oh, how ready the evil spirit is to suggest dark thoughts if we cannot
always be successful in our work of faith and labor of love! I believe
that it was for this very reason that our Lord gave us this record of
the defeat of the nine Apostles in order to let us feel that it is not
so great a wonder if, sometimes, we have to come back and say, "Who has
believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" It
is no new thing that we should be made a laughingstock to the enemies
of the Cross of Christ because we cannot do what we have formerly done
and are beaten in the very field where before we have achieved great
and notable victories for our Master!
Brothers, why do you think that the Lord allows His servants to be
beaten at all? Well, of course, the chief reason in this case was–and
of that we will speak presently–because God gives the victory to
faith–and if we will not believe, neither shall we be established. If
we fall, as those disciples probably had fallen, into an unspiritual
frame of mind and a low state of Grace, our commission will not be
worth much, our former qualifications will be of little value and all
successes we have had in earlier days will not take away the effect of
present failures. We shall be like Samson who went out and shook
himself as he had done before, but the Spirit of God had departed from
him–and the Philistines soon overcame him–those very Philistines
whom, if his Lord had still been with him, he would have smitten hip
and thigh with great slaughter. If we are to do the Lord's work and to
do it successfully, we must have faith in Him! We must look beyond
ourselves, we must look beyond our commission, we must look beyond our
personal qualifications, we must look beyond our former successes, we
must look for a present anointing by the Holy Spirit and, by faith, we
must hang upon the living God from day to day.
Apart from that, however–which we will dwell upon directly–I think
our Lord intends that we should often have something fresh come across
our path to keep us from getting into ruts. It is a very bad thing for
anyone when even the Christian life gets to be merely mechanical. You
know what state of things that is–you may have come here to this
service just as a matter of course, almost without thinking what you
were doing! I have known many persons, in the public worship of God,
sing simply because the time for singing has come–and they frequently
prove that they are singing only in a mechanical fashion, for they sit
down before the hymn has come to an end–showing that they are not
sufficiently interested to find out how it closes. So we may kneel,
apparently in prayer, and not really be praying, for the mind is
gadding to and fro. The minister, also, can get into a way of preaching
that is almost like a parrot repeating by rote what it has been taught
to say.
This will not do, Brothers and Sisters! The Lord will not have us
always moving in ruts, so He does what men do, sometimes, in our roads
when they put great blocks of timber to turn travelers off from one
side of the road on to the other. In that way, this lunatic child was
put right in the disciples' road so that they should not go on sleepily
doing the same work without heart and without thought. This strange
case wakes them up–they have something to deal with, now, that is very
different from that they have had before! It is not a common fever, or
even an ordinary case of Satanic possession, but it is a dreadful
demoniac who is now before them, foaming, raging and wallowing in their
presence–and altogether beyond their power to heal. This wakes them up
and the Lord permits us, sometimes, to have trouble in the Church, or a
shock in the family, that we may wake right up and not go on
mechanically with little or no spiritual life in us.
Next, it was to make the disciples see the infinite superiority of
their Master. Had he been there, there would have been no devil that
would have nonplussed Him! Whatever needed to be accomplished, He
spoke, and it was done. The soft utterance of His voice, the gentle
uplifting of His hand, no–the very glance of His eye, or the willing
in His mind was sufficient to work His marvelous cures! But the
disciples had to come to Him and say, "We could not do it. We could not
cast it out." No, and it is still the same–we cannot, but He
can–therefore let us worship before the Omnipotent Christ, to whom
nothing is difficult, much less impossible!
Then they were driven to wish for more of His company. They were made
to see that they could not do without Him. Soldiers, without their
ever-victorious Captain, driven before the enemy, they now felt that
their strength must lie in Him and that they must stay close to Him and
entreat Him not to leave them again.
This experience also drove them to Him in prayer. They now need their
Master and they begin to cry to Him! "Why could we not cast it out?"
was now their humiliating confession and enquiry! And there was, within
the heart of their question, this earnest prayer, "O Master, help us to
cast out devils again! Take not Your Spirit from us, but renew in us
our former strength and give us even more." I am sure that anything
that makes us often come back to our Lord must be a blessing to us. It
is very humiliating to have so long preached in vain–to have gone to
that village so many times and yet to see no conversions–to visit that
lodging house so often and apparently to have made no impression upon
the careless inhabitants, or to have gone into that dark prison and
told the story of the Cross, only to find that the hearer is just as
dark and, possibly, just as brutal as ever!
It seems as if our hearts must break when we are really in earnest, yet
we cannot achieve the blessed purpose that we feel sure must be dear to
the Savior's own heart! But it may be that our failure has much of
Divine instruction in it and it may be the preface and preparation for
future success that shall greatly honor the Lord Jesus Christ! This was
a part of the training of the twelve. They were now at college, with
Christ as their Tutor. They were being prepared for those grand days
when they should do even greater things than He had done, because He
had gone back to His Father and had received still greater power–and
had given it to them. "It is good for a man that he bears the yoke in
his youth." It is good for you, young Brothers in college, when you go
to your first pastorate, to get battered about–to have all manner of
troubles, to go through fire and through water! It will make men of
you! You will be all the grander and the better servants of God in
later years, when your own weakness shall have driven you back upon the
Divine strength and you shall have learned to trust, not in man, much
less in yourself, but to cast yourself confidently on God!
II. The next thing to be learned from this narrative is that when
Christ's servants get baffled, they should make haste to their Master
and ask Him this question, which His disciples put to Him, "Why could
we not cast it out?" That is to be our second division. WHEN WE ARE
BAFFLED, THERE MUST BE A CAUSE and it is well for us to try and find
it.
We must go to the Master and ask, "Why could we not cast it out?"
This enquiry, if it leads up to a correct answer, is evidently a very
wise one, for every man ought to try to know all he can about himself.
If I am successful, why is it that I succeed? Let me know the secret,
that I may put the crown on the right head. If I do not succeed, let me
know the reason why, that I may, at any rate, try to remove any
impediment, if it is an impediment of my own making. If I am a vessel
that is not fit for the Master's use, let me know why I am not fit,
that I may, as much as lies in me, prepare myself for the great
Master's service. I know that if I am fit to be used, He is sure to use
me–but if He does not use me, it will most probably be because there
is some unfitness in me. Try to know, Brothers and Sisters, why you get
baffled in holy service, for it will be wise to know.
Probably, it may tend very greatly to your humiliation. It may make you
go, with tears in your eyes, to the Mercy Seat. You may not yet know
all that is in your own heart–there may be a something which to you
seems to be a very trifling affair–which is grieving your God and
weakening your spiritual power. It may seem to you to be a little
thing, but in that little thing may lie the eggs of so much mischief
that God will not tolerate it and He will not bless you until you are
altogether clear of it! It will be wise and be right, therefore, even
though it is to your sorrow and regret, that you should find the answer
to the question, "Why could we not cast it out?"
For whatever may be the reason of your failure, it may be cured. In all
probability it is not a great matter, certainly not an insuperable
difficulty to the Lord. By the Grace of God this hindrance may be taken
away from you and no longer be allowed to rob you of your power. Search
it out, then! Look with both your eyes and search with the brightest
light that you can borrow, that you may find out everything that
restrains the Spirit of God and injures your own usefulness.
I would at the present time earnestly put into the mouths of a great
many people this question, "Why could we not cast it out?" Let the
Church of God get to the windows of her sanctuaries, look out and say,
"Why do not these thousands of people come to hear the Gospel that we
preach?" There is all the harlotry in our streets–why has not the
Church of God swept that away? The vilest sin is rampant–sin of which
we dare not speak, it is so vile–how is it that we cannot cast this
out? And all this social discord, this complaining and confusion, this
aiming at the disruption of eve-rything–what have we been doing that
all this unrest has come? Why could we not cast these vile forces out?
Then, perhaps, in your family there is a son and you cannot bring him,
even, to respect religion. It is not so very long ago since you nursed
him on your knee–you did not dream then that he would live to be an
opponent of the Christ in whom your soul delights! There are, in your
family, certain evils that you pray against and yet they remain there.
Father, you are responsible for your family and you cannot get rid of
your responsibility. Mother, much responsibility for your children's
characters must lie with you–if they are not what you would have them
to be, oh, ask the question, "Why could we not cast the evils out of
them?" That question each teacher may ask concerning his class–and
each worker concerning his sphere of labor. I ask it concerning my
hearers, when I remember some of them who have made a profession of
religion and then have foully fallen. And others who have backslidden
into coldness or lukewarmness and many who, after years of preaching,
remain just the same as ever! What devil is this that has got into
them? Why cannot we cast it out?
I will tell you another time when you may well ask this question. It is
when you realize the evil that is within your own heart. There are
certain sins there that have cost you much pain and they are not yet
cast out. In your life, they have no rightful place–in your heart of
heart, they have no welcome place, for you desire your heart to be
clean before God. Still, those sins come. Perhaps, in your case, a
hasty temper is the demon that takes possession of you. Or possibly you
have a spirit tending to despondency. I do not know what your
particular sins are, but do you not sometimes ask the question, "Why
could we not cast them out?" We have got rid of some sins, "bag and
baggage"–they never torment us now. It is long since we had a
temptation to certain forms of sin–we sent them adrift in the name of
the Lord. But there are certain others of these demons that hide away
in dens and caves and corners–and we cannot rout them out. Why could
we not cast them out? It is a question that may be asked from so many
quarters and so many points–and it ought to be pressed home. I have
put it to you, but let each one's own conscience get alone with Christ
and ask Him, "Why am I baffled and defeated? Why cannot I cast this
evil out?"
III. Now, in the third place, consider OUR LORD'S ANSWER, upon which I
cannot dwell very long because our time is short.
The first answer that the Lord Jesus gave to His disciples was,
"Because of your unbelief." He told them that their failure was due to
their lack of faith. He did not say, "Because of the devil and his
peculiar character, and the strength of his entrenchment within the
poor sufferer's nature." No, He said, "Because of your unbelief." They
might have said and it would have been true, "This demon has been long
in possession." The father said that the affliction came upon him when
he was a child. You know that it is not easy to turn out a devil that
has lived in any place, say, for 20 years. He says, "I have been in
possession three, seven, 21 years and I am not leaving. Does not even
the law of the land give me a right to remain after I have held
undisputed possession so long? I am not leaving and, especially, I am
not going for anything you say or do!" So, the long duration of a sin
makes it all the more difficult matter to deal with it. "Can the
Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also
do good, that are accustomed to do evil." It is a difficult thing to
cast out evils of long standing. Still, if we have faith, there will be
no difficulty in overcoming even those sins that have held possession
of the sinner for a great length of time.
Moreover, in this case there was the strength of this devil as well as
the length of his possession. He took this poor child and threw him
into the fire or into the water, and hurled him to and fro at his cruel
and wicked pleasure. He did this even before the disciples' eyes! Yes,
but if they had had faith, they would have understood that though Satan
is strong, Christ is far stronger! The devil is mighty, but God is
Almighty! If the disciples had only believed, they might have overcome
the demon by the power of Christ!
In addition to the length and the strength of this possession, there
was a tremendous fury shown by this evil spirit. The child was not
simply vexed as in ordinary cases of epilepsy, but he was tremendously
tossed and torn. And I think there was, in this case, a feature of
sullenness, also. It was apparently so, at any rate, for it was a dumb
spirit. The child could not or did not speak–whatever happened to him,
he was always silent. When people can speak of their troubles of soul,
when they can tell you their grief of heart and ask your prayers, you
can get on with them. But here was one who could not speak, yet there
was the devil rending and tearing him. It was a horrible case, yet the
failure did not lie in the child–it lay mainly, as the Savior put
it–in the disciples' lack of faith–"Why could we not cast it out?"
"Because of your unbelief."
You see, the lack of faith breaks the connection between us and Christ.
We are like the telegraph wire which can convey the message as long as
the electricity can travel along it–but if you break the connection,
it is useless. Faith is our connection with Christ! Break the
connection and then what can we do? It is by faith that God works in us
and through us! But if unbelief comes in, we are unfit for Him to work
with us. Would you have God to bless the man who will not believe in
Him? Would you have God to set His seal to the works of the
unbelieving? That cannot be! The first condition of success in any work
for God must be hearty faith in the God for whom we are working. "Trust
Me," He says, "and I will do anything for you." If we distrust Him,
what can happen to us but what happened to the children of Israel whose
carcasses fell in the wilderness?
Now, you know that even the body of a child of God is precious in His
sight, for there is faith in him, and he is precious in the sight of
the Lord. But as for those who have no faith, Paul calls their bodies
carcasses! "Whose carcasses fell in the wilderness." If you have no
faith in God why, what are you? Like brute beasts–"carcasses." But
faith gives God somewhat of His due–it trusts Him and God says, "I
will never let you trust Me beyond what I will do for you. If you trust
Me, I will be as good as your faith." Would you have Him change a
condition which is so natural, so proper, so beneficial for ourselves?
O Brothers and Sisters, we shall do great things when God gives us more
faith!
Looking now upon the condition of our times and upon the work allotted
to each one of us, I feel that what we need is more faith. Never mind
how firmly fixed are the mountains of iniquity–they will move if faith
is strong. Never mind how deep have gone the root of the sycamore
tree–it shall be plucked up by its roots if faith is strong. O
Brothers and Sisters, we do not half believe! Drive the sword up to the
hilt! Believe in God to the uttermost–dare and venture–and yet find
no daring and no venturing in it as you simply trust your God as a
child trusts his father! Many of us must feel, Brethren, that we have
often failed because of our unbelief.
I must not dwell longer on that point because I want you to notice that
the Savior added that, in some cases, faith must rise to prayer and
must manifest itself mainly by prayer, or else it will do nothing. I am
afraid that these disciples were so satisfied with their commission,
their qualifications and with what they had already done, that they
proceeded to work upon this epileptic child without prayer. The Savior
says, "This kind–this sort of devil–this peculiarly furious kind of
demon–will not go out by the exercise of ordinary faith. It must be
faith that rises into prayer." You will frequently meet with persons to
whom you desire to be blessed, but you never will be blessed to them
till, first of all, you pray for them. And it may be that you will have
to pray long and earnestly–and that the praying will have to rise to
wrestling and the wrestling may have to be continued all night, as in
the case of Jacob–and you may have to go to God as often as the
importunate widow went to the unjust judge. It may be that there are
cases in which God will not yield to your faith until your faith works
in prayer and then, when prayer has worked to its utmost, you shall get
the blessing!
I think that I can understand some of God's reasons for acting thus.
First, He wants to make us see the greatness of the mercy, so He
occupies our thoughts with the greatness of the distress that needs to
be relieved and with this impossibility of that distress being relieved
except by His own power and Godhead. That experience does us good, dear
Friends, does it not? It makes us feel that the mercy, when it does
come, will be remarkably precious to us.
The Lord also intends to excite our desires and that, likewise, does us
good. To be all aglow with holy desires is, in itself, a healthy
exercise. Then the Lord means to create in us unity of action. One
Brother finds that he cannot get on alone, so he will call in another
to help him in prayer–and much holy united supplication will be called
forth by the very desperateness of the case which cannot be met by
simple faith, or even by the prayer of one! Let us always seek the
united prayers of many Brothers and Sisters. You remember that man who
was carried by four and let down from the roof into Christ's Presence?
Oh, I wish that in your houses, Brothers and Sisters, you met
frequently, in twos and threes for united prayer! I should like to hear
of little bands formed of Christian men and women who pledged
themselves to pray, four at a time, for somebody possessed by a devil
of the kind that will not go out by ordinary means and must be ejected
by four of you. Get together and say to yourselves, "We will not rest
until this soul, and that soul, shall have the devil cast out and shall
sit, clothed, and in their right mind, at Jesus Christ's feet." "This
kind"–these certain kinds of devils are not to be driven out except by
special, importunate, continued, united prayer! They can be cast out if
you only believe and pray–there is never a devil but will have to go
if you have faith enough and prayer enough to drive him out!
But then my text says, "By prayer and fasting." Our Lord Jesus Christ
never made much of fasting. He very seldom spoke about it and when the
Pharisees exaggerated it, He generally put them off by telling them
that the time had not come for His disciples to fast because the
Bridegroom was still with them–and while He was with them their days
were to be days of joy. But, still, Holy Scripture does speak of
fasting. In certain cases it advises fasting and there were godly men
and godly women, such as Anna, the Prophetess, who "served God with
fasting and prayer night and day." I do not mean to spiritualize this
away. I believe, literally, that some of you would be a great deal the
better if you did occasionally have a whole day of fasting and prayer.
There is a lightness that comes over the frame, especially of bulky
people like myself–we begin to feel ourselves quite light and
ethereal. I remember one day of fasting and prayer in which I realized
to myself, spiritually, the meaning of a Popish picture which I have
sometimes seen, of a saint floating in the air! Well, that, of course,
was impossible and I do not suppose that, when the picture was painted,
it was believed in its literal sense. But there is a lightness, an
elevation of the spirit above the flesh that will come over you after
some hours of waiting upon God in fasting and prayer. I can advise
Brothers and Sisters, sometimes, to try it–it will be good for their
health and it certainly will not harm them. If we only ate about half
what is ordinarily eaten, we would probably, all of us, be in better
health! And if, occasionally, we put ourselves on short commons, not
because there is any virtue in that, but in order to get our brains
more clear, and to help our hearts to rest more fully upon the Savior,
we would find that prayer and fasting have great power.
But I will take the fasting in another sense, for I believe that this,
also, is what is meant by our Lord Jesus. Suppose that we have such
cases as these to pray for–a Church full of discord, a nation or an
individual full of sin! We might say to one another, "We will appoint
such-and-such a time for prayer." Fast or not, according as your body
would be the better or the worse for it. To some, it would be
mischievous and injurious to fast, but say to yourselves, "We are going
to take a whole day to ourselves. Two or three of us have agreed to
devote an evening, or a whole night if it is a hard case, and we are
going to meet together for no purpose but just to pray about that one
matter. And if that does not do, we will meet again." I have often
heard of instances in which persons who knew that they were thus made
especially the object of some remarkable occasions of prayer, have been
impressed by the fact, or, if not by the fact, yet the outcome of that
special, particular, marked season of prayer has been that, before
long, they have been brought to Christ. There is a kind of devil that
will not go out by ordinary prayer–there must be added to that
pleading something by which our zeal shall be yet further
increased–there must be "prayer and fasting."
I think, also, that I may spiritualize this expression, now, and say
that when your mind gets into such a condition that you begin to sorrow
over a lost soul. When you realize the meaning of that agonizing cry of
Jeremiah, "Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of
tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of
my people!"–it is then that the devil will have to go. When your soul
is clothed in sackcloth and ashes and you go mourning without the light
of the sun, saying, "I could die rather than that soul should die! I
could wish myself accursed rather than that soul were accursed! I put
myself in the dust before God, even in the dust of self-abasement on
account of that soul, that I may win it to Christ," then that sort of
devil will have to go out! Starving him out by starving yourself and
making your own spirit wretched and miserable for the poor sinner's
sake, you will make that devil find the person untenable any longer as
a lodging place.
Permit me to say just one thing more. I believe that the devil of
drunkenness will not go out of some men unless some of you Christian
people, who pray for them, and talk with them, will practice fasting in
the matter of total abstinence. I mean this–not that it is wrong for
you to take what you do take, but that there are some souls that you
cannot win unless you say to them, "For your sakes we are going to give
up what might be lawful to us, that we may save you from the public
house and all its temptations. Come, Jack, I intend to take the pledge.
I never was drunk and probably never will be, but I will sign the
pledge for your sake." There are some devils that will not go out till
you act like that. And, Brothers, we ought to do anything that may
result in the saving of a soul. We ought to deny ourselves anything of
which we can deny ourselves if it is necessary to bring one single
person to the Cross of Christ!
Let us see to it that we are quite clear in this matter, for there are
still many devils that will not go out without prayer and fasting. Well
then, say, "I will not fast to please the devil, or to please other
people, but I will fast to spite the devil and to get him out of that
man. I will fast from anything so that I may but bring him to the feet
of Jesus that he may be saved." We who love the Lord are, I trust, all
agreed on that matter, that no cost on our part should be spared to win
a soul from the dominion of Satan and bring him into the glorious
liberty of the children of God!
O you who are not saved, see how concerned we are about you! It seems
nothing to you to lose your souls, but it seems everything to us–and
it was everything to Christ! You would not suffer even a little
self-denial that you might be saved, yet Christ died–so highly did He
value the souls of sinners–rather than that you should perish! Oh, may
that love of His make you begin to love yourselves so as to trust Him,
and love Him, and find, in Him, eternal life! God bless you, for
Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MARK9:2-29.
Verses 2-4. Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James and John, and
lead them up into an high mountain apart by themselves; and He was
transfigured before them. And His clothes became shining, exceedingly
white as snow; such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And
Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
In the midst of all His sorrow and humiliation, our Lord let out some
gleams of His Glory, to remind us who He was even while He was here in
the depths of His grief. He was still none other than the all-glorious
Lord of Heaven and earth, whose clothes, if He chose to make them so,
would be whiter than snow, and brighter than the sun! Let us think of
Him with great love and gratitude as we see what Glory He willingly
laid aside for our sakes, and see how low He stooped who was, in
Himself, immeasurably high.
5, 6. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us
to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for You, and one for
Moses, and one for Elijah. For he knew not what to say; for they were
sorely afraid. Peter had enough wit left to wish to stay where he was
and, sometimes, when we are with our Lord in the mount, we can only
say, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us stay where we are!
Let our union and communion with Yourself continue forevermore!"
7, 8. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a Voice came
out of the cloud, saying, This My beloved Son. Hear Him. And suddenly,
when they had looked round about, they saw no one any more, save Jesus
only with themselves. Moses is gone and Elijah is gone, but Jesus
remains. And it is much the same with us, now, and we are quite content
that all others should go that we may have "only Jesus." If He is with
us, we have the best company in the world!
9, 10. And as they came down from the mountain, He charged them that
they should tell no man what things they had seen till the Son of Man
was risen from the dead. And they kept that saying with themselves,
questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.
You see the great modesty and patience of our Lord. Though these three
favored Apostles might see His Glory and afterwards bear witness
concerning it, yet for the time being they must hold their tongues. All
this Glory and only three men to see it, and these three must be quite
silent! Our Lord seeks not honor from men–neither ought. His mind was
even then occupied with thoughts of His great Sacrifice. When He spoke
to Moses and Elijah, His theme was, "His decease which He should
accomplish at Jerusalem." And when He spoke with these three
eyewitnesses of His majesty, the subject of His converse was His own
death and Resurrection. That was the object on which His heart's
affection was set.
11-13. And they asked Him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elijah must
first come? And He answered and told them, Elijah verily comes first,
and restores all things; and now it is written of the Son of Man, that
He must suffer many things, and be set at nothing. But I say unto you,
That Elijah is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatever they
wished as it is written of him. Notice that even when our Savior was
answering His disciples' question about Elijah and John, the ruling
passion being strong upon Him, He introduced into that answer something
about His own death. That subject is always before His eyes–He never
forgets it–He is, in a sense, undergoing His passion even as He
descends the Mount of Transfiguration.
14. And when He came to His disciples, He saw a great multitude about
them, and the scribes questioning them. What a descent for Christ, from
the peace and quiet of the Hill of Communion with the glorified, to the
noise and tumult of a surging multitude and the mocking question of the
jeering scribes!
15. And straightaway all the people, when they beheld Him, were greatly
amazed, and running to Him saluted Him. I think there must be some
truth in the common tradition that the face of our Lord Jesus still
shone with the light of the Transfiguration. It does appear so to me
from these words, "All the people, when they beheld Him, were greatly
amazed." Surely, it was not an amazement at the mere fact of seeing Him
whom they had so often seen, but His face, I doubt not, glowed as the
face of Moses did when he came down from the mount! Only observe that
when the face of Moses burned with the reflected glory of God's
Presence, the people could not bear to look upon him, but when the face
of Christ shone with supernatural splendor, they, "were greatly amazed,
and running to Him saluted Him." There is an attractive glory about the
Christ of God! Oh, for such a sight of His face at this moment that we
should all run to Him and salute Him!
16. And He asked the scribes, What are you discussing with them? There
had been a skirmish between the scribes and the disciples of Christ,
and the scribes were winning the day. But when the Captain had come,
the tide of battle was soon turned.
17. 18. And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have
brought unto You my son, which has a dumb spirit; and wherever he takes
him, he tears him: and he foams and gnashes with his teeth, and pines
away: and I spoke to Your disciples that they should cast him out; and
they could not. It was an aggravated case of epilepsy, attended with
possession by an evil spirit. The disciples could not cast out this
devil, and the scribes had, therefore, attacked their faith in the
Master, Himself, while He was away.
19. He answered him, and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I
be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me. Unbelief
is a great trouble to Christ. I never read that He said to the poor or
to the sick, "How long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with
you?" I never read that He expressed any weariness of human ignorance,
or scarcely even of human sin, but when it is a matter of unbelief,
then it stings Him and He cries, "O faithless generation, how long
shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring Him to Me."
20, 21. And they brought him to Him: and when he saw Him, straightway
the spirit tore him and he fell on the ground, and wallowed, foaming at
the mouth. And He asked his father, How long is it since this came unto
him? And he said, Since he was a child. And having begun with that
sorrowful subject, the father, with the painful eloquence of pity, went
on to tell the tale of woe–
22. And ofttimes it has cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to
destroy him: but if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help
us. Here was unbelief, it is true, but there was with it a pitying
entreaty that meant more faith than it could express! Men do not
usually beg where they expect nothing! And they do not make pitiful
entreaties with tears unless they have some hope. Even though it was
almost covered up, the Savior still fastened on that one utterance of
unbelief–"if."
23. Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to
him that believes. "It is not, 'If I can,' but, 'If you can.'"
24. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with
tears, Lord, I believe; help You my unbelief! There was faith, even
though it was mixed with unbelief. It was a faith that made him pray,
as I have already told you, and the Lord Jesus Christ found out where
the faith was. He had, as it were, broken the great black lump of dead
coal that looked to be nothing but unbelief and there was the living
light of faith burning in the very center of it!
26. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked
the foul spirit, saying unto him, You dumb and deaf spirit, I charge
you, come out of him and enter no more into him. That is Christ's way
of curing! Our Lord does not save sinners as some say that He does,
just for a short time, and then let His work all grumble back to
nothingness. This would be unworthy of Himself and unworthy of that
gracious Spirit by whom He works! No, if He casts out a devil, he shall
enter no more into the one he formerly tormented.
26. And the spirit cried, and convulsed him greatly, and came out of
him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. As
old Thomas Fuller says, the devil knew that he had to go out, so, like
a bad tenant, he did all the mischief he could before he left. Satan
often acts in this fashion–just when Christ has come to cast him out,
he drives the poor soul into deeper despair and, perhaps, into greater
sin than he ever fell into in all his life.
27. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. He
was not dead, though many thought he was, and said so. Christ does not
cure and then kill–He cures so that we shall never die! No, no, poor
Sinner, the last pangs of despair shall not destroy you! The fiercest,
bitterest assaults of Satan shall not cause you to die! Christ will
take you by the hand and you shall arise.
28-29. And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him
privately, Why could we not cast it out? So He said to them, This kind
can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.